Watching it live. Very interesting but a bit difficult to understand given that he has just recently learned English. Somethings for both Conservatives and Liberals to take from. Very interesting how he tied a line usually used by abortion opponents "respecting the sanctity of life at every stage of development" with opposition to the death penalty.
Very elegant speaker with sincere passion. Transcript: http://www.scribd.com/doc/282588617/Pope-s-speech-before-Joint-Meeting-of-Congress
Here is the NYT article and video of the speech. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/25/us/pope-francis-congress-speech.html?_r=0
As a non-Catholic and someone who is very skeptical of the Catholic church it is hard to not like Pope Francis. His humility and inclusiveness even to asking for those who aren't religious to send him best wishes is very appealing. A real difference from Pope Benedict who was primarily concerned with defending doctrine and the institution this Pope seems genuinely concerned with people.
While you might not agree that religion should have a place in Congress or with Catholicism in general the Pope is more than just a religious leader. The Catholic church is still a massive institution with hundreds of millions of followers. The Pope's words have great influence beyond just Catholics. For better or worse the Catholic church is a political force in the World.
what qualifications does one need to have to address congress IYO? the dude is the spiritual leader of 1.2B people of which many of their political beliefs stem which in turn greatly effects public policy... seems plenty qualified to me.
Pope Francis is an amazing global figure and, as a non-Catholic, it's wonderful to see a leader like this representing so many Christians worldwide. It is also refreshing to hear the words of somebody whose thinking goes beyond the stupid and forced bifurcated nature of American government. Making the heads of everybody spin is a good thing.
Not crazy about religious leaders speaking in the Congress. It just further demonstrates to the world that our government prefers one religion over others when it should prefer none over any.
Nice that he is speaking to Congress, but I don't think anything comes out of it. Both parties are looking for talking points to use in their politics, and the Pope is trying to avoid giving it to them.
That was beautiful! How can you not love what this man stands for, and stands with? God Bless all Clutchfan members.
Unfortunately, most of our congressmen are also unqualified to give a speech to Congress. Our government does not have a preference for Catholicism. If they were doing this out of some sort of preferential treatment to their preferred religion, they'd have Joel Osteen come speak. The Pope is here because he's a world power. It's not much different than having the Dalai Lama speak, which I could see happening. It wouldn't mean we're now endorsing Buddhism.
This atheist believes he is qualified. He said a lot of things that our congress needs to hear. I especially liked this part: It seemed like he was overtly talking about Cuba but also taking a shot at our current political climate in Washington. I applauded in my car while listening.
The anti-death penalty line was the highlight of the speech. All the conservatives stood up and hooted when he gave his "protecting life at all stages" line and then their jaws had to hit the deck when he said "which is why I oppose the death penalty." LOL
Everything else you might consider him to be is built/predicated upon his being a religious leader. So it really ends/begins there. Being a religious leader is not a qualification in any way, IMO. Lulz. I feel the same way about many of his opinions, doesn't mean I think he should have been granted the opportunity though.
